It’s personal. It’s private. And it’s no one’s business but yours. You may be planning a political campaign, discussing your taxes, or having an illicit affair. Or you may be doing something that you feel shouldn’t be illegal, but is. Whatever it is, you don’t want your private electronic mail (E-mail) or confidential documents read by anyone else. There’s nothing wrong with asserting your privacy. Privacy is as apple-pie as the Constitution.

Perhaps you think your E-mail is legitimate enough that encryption is unwarranted. If you really are a law-abiding citizen with nothing to hide, then why don’t you always send your paper mail on postcards? Why not submit to drug testing on demand? Why require a warrant for police searches of your house? Are you trying to hide something? You must be a subversive or a drug dealer if you hide your mail inside envelopes. Or maybe a paranoid nut. Do law-abiding citizens have any need to encrypt their E-mail?

What if everyone believed that law-abiding citizens should use postcards for their mail? If some brave soul tried to assert his privacy by using an envelope for his mail, it would draw suspicion. Perhaps the authorities would open his mail to see what he’s hiding. Fortunately, we don’t live in that kind of world, because everyone protects most of their mail with envelopes. So no one draws suspicion by asserting their privacy with an envelope. There’s safety in numbers. Analogously, it would be nice if everyone routinely used encryption for all their E-mail, innocent or not, so that no one drew suspicion by asserting their E-mail privacy with encryption. Think of it as a form of solidarity.

Today, if the Government wants to violate the privacy of ordinary citizens, it has to expend a certain amount of expense and labor to intercept and steam open and read paper mail, and listen to and possibly transcribe spoken telephone conversation. This kind of labor-intensive monitoring is not practical on a large scale. This is only done in important cases when it seems worthwhile.

More and more of our private communications are being routed through electronic channels. Electronic mail is gradually replacing conventional paper mail. E-mail messages are just too easy to intercept and scan for interesting keywords. This can be done easily, routinely, automatically, and undetectably on a grand scale. International cablegrams are already scanned this way on a large scale by the NSA.

We are moving toward a future when the nation will be crisscrossed with high capacity fiber optic data networks linking together all our increasingly ubiquitous personal computers. E-mail will be the norm for everyone, not the novelty it is today. The Government will protect our E-mail with Government-designed encryption protocols. Probably most people will acquiesce to that. But perhaps some people will prefer their own protective measures.

Senate Bill 266, a 1991 omnibus anti-crime bill, had an unsettling measure buried in it. If this non-binding resolution had become real law, it would have forced manufacturers of secure communications equipment to insert special trap doors in their products, so that the Government can read anyone’s encrypted messages. It reads:

“It is the sense of Congress that providers of electronic communications services and manufacturers of electronic communications service equipment shall insure that communications systems permit the Government to obtain the plain text contents of voice, data, and other communications when appropriately authorized by law.”
This measure was defeated after rigorous protest from civil libertarians and industry groups.

In 1992, the FBI Digital Telephony wiretap proposal was introduced to Congress. It would require all manufacturers of communications equipment to build in special remote wiretap ports that would enable the FBI to remotely wiretap all forms of electronic communication from FBI offices. Although it never attracted any sponsors in Congress in 1992 because of citizen opposition, it was reintroduced in 1994.

Most alarming of all is the White House’s bold new encryption policy initiative, under development at NSA since the start of the Bush administration, and unveiled April 16th, 1993. The centerpiece of this initiative is a Government-built encryption device, called the Clipper chip, containing a new classified NSA encryption algorithm. The Government is encouraging private industry to design it into all their secure communication products, like secure phones, secure FAX, etc. AT&T is now putting the Clipper into their secure voice products. The catch: At the time of manufacture, each Clipper chip will be loaded with its own unique key, and the Government gets to keep a copy, placed in escrow. Not to worry, though — the Government promises that they will use these keys to read your traffic only when duly authorized by law. Of course, to make Clipper completely effective, the next logical step would be to outlaw other forms of cryptography.

If privacy is outlawed, only outlaws will have privacy. Intelligence agencies have access to good cryptographic technology. So do the big arms and drug traffickers. So do defense contractors, oil companies, and other corporate giants. But ordinary people and grassroots political organizations mostly have not had access to affordable military grade public-key cryptographic technology. Until now.

PGP empowers people to take their privacy into their own hands. There’s a growing social need for it. That’s why I wrote it.

The Euro continues to fluctuate against the pound and the US dollar, as the eurozone remains unsettled, with Britain discussing referendums in 4 years time on their eurozone membership, causing unrest in financial markets.

The US dollar is also affected as fiscal cliff agreements continue to unfold, however, the GB Pound Sterling seems to be most affected this month by Cameron’s political agenda re Europe, which destabilises UK business who want to move forward with long term plans in an already difficult economy.

Greece, Italy, and Spain also continue to try to claw their economies back from the edge but progress is very slow and no improvement is expected in next 12 months.

The EURO stands at 1.168 against the GBP, showing a sharp drop this month from 1.24 in December.

As British Prime Minister David Cameron continues to push ahead with his government’s plans to legalise same-sex marriage in the UK, many in his party are feeling alienated. The majority of grass roots Conservatives are opposed to the plan.

A minister has now suggested the driving force behind the policy is the Prime Minister’s wife, Samantha Cameron.

Mrs Cameron is the daughter of a baronet, and is known for her socially liberal views. She is said to be horrified by the socially conservative views of America’s Republicans.

The suggestion came out, at the same time as Mandrake asked David Cameron’s mother why her son was so determined to go ahead with a policy, that so many conservatives are opposed to. Mary Cameron, a former Justice of the Peace, replied, “I know, but David just won’t be told.”

The New Mexico teen accused of killing his parents and three siblings is portrayed in charging documents as a teen haunted by homicidal and suicidal thoughts that included fantasies of killing his girlfriend’s parents and gunning down random people at a Wal-Mart.

To his family, he was a bright, curious and talented musician who played in the church choir. He also was a champion wrestler who dreamed of following his family’s long tradition of military service, and a boy who accompanied his pastor father on rescue missions to Mexico.

In a statement issued Tuesday night on behalf of family, the boy’s uncle Eric Griego described those traits, and called on the media and the public not to use 15-year-old Nehemiah Griego “as a pawn for ratings or to score political points.”

“He is a troubled young man who made a terrible decision that will haunt him and his family forever,” the statement said.

Advocates of cannabis use as a recreational drug have long argued that it is safe. However, a new study has shown that smoking weed has a negative effect on brain function.

The main active constituent in canabis is Delta(9)-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The study looked at the effect of increasing the dose of Delta(9)-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), combined with tobacco, on users compared with the control group who did not smoke cannabis. Before now no one had studied the effects of increased levels of Delta(9)-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on behaviour.

As the strength of weed increases, and as some states have now legalised recreational cannabis use the study is very timely.

The results showed that users showed worsening motor skills and processing times. The study warned that consequently recreational cannabis use poses a public health and safety issue.

At least three people were injured in a shooting incident at Lone Star Community College, including one gunman. Another woman near the incident suffered a heart attack, however, no deaths were reported.

Two men had an altercation, included firing guns at each other, between the academic building and library at Lone Star College Harris Campus in Houston, Texas, according to its Chancellor, Richard Carpenter. The campus was locked down by police while the situation was assessed and the shooters were in custody. The surrounding Aldine School District’s 4 campuses were also secured during this time.

Texas is a concealed carry state, but Lone Star College is a gun-free zone with a policy which does not allow guns on campus. Even with this policy, witnesses stated that each man drew a pistol, one from his backpack and the other from a jacket.

According to the school spokesman Jed Young, students were caught in the crossfire of two shooters. Of the more than 10,000 students on campus today, 3 people were shot and one woman suffered a heart attack.

There are various reports accounting for the wounded,a maintenance worker who was shot in the leg and innocent victims included a student and a teacher. One of the shooters was reported to be among the injured. The two victims taken to Ben Taub Hospital were reported to have multiple gunshot wounds and were in “relatively serious conditions.” Both were taken into surgery.

The second shooter turned himself in at the hospital after being hunted by tracking dogs in the surrounding woods.

Nehemiah Griego, 15 yr old son of a former pastor, shot and killed both his parents and three siblings.

He had also planned to go on another killing spree at the local Walmart with his 12 year old girlfriend, with possible plans to also kill her parents. Instead, the boy and his girlfriend on Sunday evening reported that his parents died in a car crash. A church staff member made a call to 911.

The annual gathering of the world’s most influential has began in Davos, Switzerland. It is thought there will be around 50 world leaders attending, including Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. There will also be leaders from the media, business, and academia.

In the run up to the conference the founder of the World Economic Forum, Professor Klaus Schwab, has said the mood this year is more optimistic than last, but has warned that the global economy could still collapse if more is not done to promote growth.

On the agenda will be the continuing eurozone crisis, the US Fiscal Cliff, weak economic growth, soaring national debts, and the latest stimulus program in Japan.

The World Economic Forum seeks to promote a global governance platform to address the global issues that national governments alone can not tackle.

As the gun debate continues in America, the main question must be: Will reforming the gun laws in America save lives?

In his debate with Alex Jones, CNN broadcaster, Piers Morgan pointed out Britain only had 35 homicides as a result of shooting. However, this only tells part of the story.

The United Kingdom has never had a gun culture like that in the States. Guns tend to be in the hands of farmers, wealthy landowners, and a few enthusiasts. However knife violence is a major problem in many UK cities, in particular Glasgow. Glasgow has the second highest murder rate in Western Europe, and has been called the Murder Capital of Europe.

Many have tried for decades to deal with the gang culture within Glasgow and failed. Millions of pounds have been spent, and initiatives tried with no success. The streets of Glasgow still have young men fighting each other with knives, baseball bats, metal bars, anything they can find to cause serious injuries.

Will Vice President Biden and President Obama’s plans to reform US gun laws work? Time will tell, but history says probably not.